Key Takeaways
- • Argentum AI, a Chicago-based neocloud founded in 2025 and led by CEO Andrew Sobko, is negotiating a $5 billion private credit facility with a large private credit firm (unnamed) to buy AI chips, according to two people familiar with the matter.
- • The proceeds would fund chips for Argentum's Poland data center developed with DL Invest Group, with the debt secured by chips leased to customers lacking investment-grade ratings.
- • Argentum says it has more than $12 billion in contracted revenue, which would support one of the largest debt facilities raised by a neocloud to date.
- • The talks highlight a widening gap in neocloud financing: SpaceX completed $40 billion in chip debt on its investment-grade rating, while Nebius secured a $3.5 billion Citi facility and CoreWeave faces scrutiny over roughly $50 billion of debt.
Summary
Argentum AI, a Super Micro-backed neocloud, is negotiating a $5 billion financing package with a large private credit firm to purchase AI chips, according to two people familiar with the matter. The talks have not been previously reported. One source said the borrowing would fund additional chips for the Poland data center the company secured alongside DL Invest Group, and that the debt is structured against chips to be leased to customers without investment-grade credit ratings. Argentum has already locked in more than $12 billion in contracted revenue, according to the same source. The company describes itself as an independent, institutional-grade AI cloud platform focused on large-scale GPU infrastructure for enterprise AI workloads. In May, it signed a deal worth roughly $2.5 billion with cloud gaming firm Boosteroid and DL Invest for a 300-megawatt data center, and said at the time it was working with U.S. financial institutions on financing structures for future deployments.
The negotiations come as credit for neoclouds, which rent out AI computing power to other businesses, has become harder to obtain. Lenders and bond investors are growing more selective. SpaceX said it completed $40 billion in debt financing to buy Nvidia AI chips in a deal arranged with an affiliate of Apollo Global Management. Elon Musk, writing on X, attributed access to that capital to SpaceX's investment-grade rating and to revenue from its Starlink and launch businesses, and said much of the debt could be repaid early. Musk also argued that debt markets have almost entirely shut off funding for companies without substantial revenue independent of AI data centers, predicting that more than 200 neoclouds will face "guppy-level death and consolidation."
The divide is visible in public markets. CoreWeave's shares and corporate bonds have fallen sharply as investors focus on roughly $50 billion of debt on its balance sheet, and credit default swap premiums tied to the company have risen, signaling higher perceived default risk. Not all neoclouds are shut out: Nebius said on October 22 that it secured a $3.5 billion facility from Citi for data center development and GPU purchases. The facility matures in 364 days and carries an initial rate of SOFR plus 2.75 percentage points.
For Argentum, the proposed facility would extend a buildout anchored by contracted demand rather than a diversified base of established businesses. Private credit funds have stepped into gaps left by banks and public bond markets, but they typically demand tighter covenants and higher spreads for taking on equipment risk tied to how quickly GPU generations turn over. The outcome of Argentum's talks will test whether the gap between borrowers with independent cash flow and those reliant on data center revenue is temporary caution or a lasting repricing of neocloud credit risk.
The negotiations come as credit for neoclouds, which rent out AI computing power to other businesses, has become harder to obtain. Lenders and bond investors are growing more selective. SpaceX said it completed $40 billion in debt financing to buy Nvidia AI chips in a deal arranged with an affiliate of Apollo Global Management. Elon Musk, writing on X, attributed access to that capital to SpaceX's investment-grade rating and to revenue from its Starlink and launch businesses, and said much of the debt could be repaid early. Musk also argued that debt markets have almost entirely shut off funding for companies without substantial revenue independent of AI data centers, predicting that more than 200 neoclouds will face "guppy-level death and consolidation."
The divide is visible in public markets. CoreWeave's shares and corporate bonds have fallen sharply as investors focus on roughly $50 billion of debt on its balance sheet, and credit default swap premiums tied to the company have risen, signaling higher perceived default risk. Not all neoclouds are shut out: Nebius said on October 22 that it secured a $3.5 billion facility from Citi for data center development and GPU purchases. The facility matures in 364 days and carries an initial rate of SOFR plus 2.75 percentage points.
For Argentum, the proposed facility would extend a buildout anchored by contracted demand rather than a diversified base of established businesses. Private credit funds have stepped into gaps left by banks and public bond markets, but they typically demand tighter covenants and higher spreads for taking on equipment risk tied to how quickly GPU generations turn over. The outcome of Argentum's talks will test whether the gap between borrowers with independent cash flow and those reliant on data center revenue is temporary caution or a lasting repricing of neocloud credit risk.
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